Bill Gates on H1B Visa

Gates Rakes Congress on H1B Visa. I am paraphrasing an article from www.internetnews.com on H1B Visas, as it seems people misunderstand Obama's role in the harm visited upon US Citizens by H1B visas. Instead of jumping into the bandwagon of people who think that Obama is the source of all the unemployment problem just because they said something hilarious, we should use more critical thinking that our education at UP gave us.Also, be careful about being persuaded that it is ok to hate Obama for his "black ass".

If you did not emigrate to the US in the 1960's and 1970's, you did not get a taste of overt racism. During those times, if you were not white and male, all you can get are clerical jobs no matter what your college diploma from the Philippines shows, even from UP. I know because I and several of my co-workers at the Pacific Telephone Co. went through that experience. It took the work of the Black People to change attitudes on racism and we Filipinos, benefited from it, even more than the black population at large. You want to go back to that time? Be careful what you wish for.Point 1: Who is for H1B Visas - Here is what Bill Gates says:

"The whole idea of the H1B thing is don't let too many smart people come into the country. Basically, it doesn't make sense," Gates said.

The lack of H1B visas is causing problems for Microsoft's hiring, he contended.

"You can't imagine how tough it is to plan as a company where we say, 'let's have this engineering group and staff it.' Note that Bill Gates is completely for unlimited influx of immigrants through the H1B program. - He does not even have the courtesy of mentioning anything about qualified US Citizens who are unemployed.Point 2: Bill Gates assigns the blame: the core of the problem rests with members in Congress who want to step back to U.S. isolationism. - Bill Gates definitely identifies who is responsible for the H1B program, the US Congress. Obama does not have the power to act unilaterally to mandate changes in laws. He did not sign the H1B visa law. Congress has to act to repeal the law or make sure that the US is not issuing H1B visas beyond the need for them and without taking into consideration the effects on US employment.I do wish that Obama shows moral guidance so that Congress does its job.

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WASHINGTON -- For Bill Gates, it's just another week: Host Bono over the weekend, give an almost two-hour keynote at WinHEC on Monday and tweak Congress today.

What's politically eating at Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect? H1B visas.

Gates was on Capitol Hill to promote science education, research and development funding and to participate in a Library of Congress panel discussion with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Ver.), Rep. David Drier (R-Calif.), Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman and Phillip Bond, under secretary of commerce for technology.

When asked what he would do if he could make the laws, Gates quickly stated: "I'd certainly get rid of the H1B cap."

An H1B visa is a non-immigrant classification used by foreigners who are sponsored and employed in specialty fields such as technology. The current H1B ceiling is 65,000 workers per year, following caps as high 195,000 employees in the early 1990s.

The huge cuts, prompted by national security concerns and protectionist lawmakers who think the jobs should go to Americans, are a longstanding sore point for the technology industry.

"The whole idea of the H1B thing is don't let too many smart people come into the country. Basically, it doesn't make sense," Gates said.

The lack of H1B visas is causing problems for Microsoft's hiring, he contended.

"You can't imagine how tough it is to plan as a company where we say, 'let's have this engineering group and staff it.' You get a few and then you go through these periods where nobody can come in," Gates said.

He continued: "So, we'll have Canadians waiting at the border until some bureaucratic thing happens where a few more get opened up. That's just wounding us in this global competition."

According to Gates, the core of the problem rests with members in Congress who want to step back to U.S. isolationism.

"It's very dangerous because you get this reaction: 'Okay, the world is very competitive, let's cut back on trade; the world is very scary, let's cut back on visas,'" he said.

Leahy agreed with Gates, but Drier politely demurred.

"The post-911 effort to cut down on visas, I think that's a bad mistake, I think we should be increasing them," Leahy said. "We should be opening our borders more, not closing them. It does not improve the security of the United States by thinking we can become Fortress America and not interact with the rest of the world."

Drier countered: "We can't be so naive as to believe that there is not a very serious border security problem with which we have to contend. We need to ask ourselves why it is that so many of these people who are educated at Princeton and other great institutions, why it is they leave?

He added, "It behooves us to spend time looking at our polices that create disincentives for people to remain working right here."